his way. they're talking about ponzi schemes and care, but one of them is getting a full on count attack from the gop front-runner. stand pi. new evidence that some americans who voted for barack obama may now regret it. would things have been different for the democrats if it were president hillary clinton running for re-election right now? new poll numbers are out. and the palestinians push for an official seat at the united nations. we'll set the scene for the expected fireworks at the u.n. next week. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com right now, the republican presidential race is looking more than ever like a two-man contest between rick perry and mitt romney. the dust is settling after our debate and the fur is flying. michele bachmann is defending one of her hashest lines as

scientists come forward to challenge her claims about the controversial hpv vaccine. jim acosta is covering the race to unseat perry. shall we say it is a race indeed. >> it absolutely is, wolf, and the only thing missing from the campaign trail this week, michael buffer. the professional wrestler master of ceremonies, who's known for his battle cry, let's get ready to rumble. it's the main event for the gop comes down to rick perry versus mitt romney, stand back. >> just yesterday, that jobs legacy in massachusetts got even worse. >> in iowa, perry is laying into romney's health care plan, pointing to this study from a conservative think tank that concluded the program has cost the state 18,000 jobs. a finding romney aides call deeply flawed. >> it kills toos many jobs and gets between you and your doctor.

doesn't make any difference whether it's passed in massachusetts or washington, d.c. it is bad medicine and needs to be stopped. >> his campaign is holding up this gallup poll. the poll found 40% of independents say the remark will hurt him in a general election. >> social security is not a ponzi scheme. social security has worked for 75 years pretty darn well. you guy haves not taken advantage of social security. you contributed to it. >> but perry isn't backing away from the comment. >> it is broken. kids know that paying into something that's not going to be there into the future is called a ponzi scheme. >> after losing her heavyweight status in the polls, michele bachmann is looking for a knockout on perry's decision to order hpv vaccines for texas schoolgirls. in this web video, she's come up with a new name for the new popsy. >> whether it's obama care or

perry care, i oppose any governor for president who mandates a family's health care choic choices. >> with contenders like rick santorum, the fight is for attention. >> i get a kick out of hermann kane and mitt romney. we're not the career politicians. you know why? they lost. >> same goes for jon huntsman who's hoping an endorsement will attract moderates. >> i believe jon huntsman is a experien experienced, accomplished and pragmatic leader that america needs now. >> this is all the warm-up for next week's debate. in florida, republicans are gathering for a straw poll -- and wolf, one potential line of attack we have found out from the texas workforce commission,

the unemployment rate in the lone star state ticked up to 8.5% from 8.4%, so the texas jobs report is perhaps not as shimmering as it was just a few short weeks ago. >> still below the national average of 9.1%, so that's at least something obviously. there have been a lot of jobs created. the debate and you can correct many if i'm wrong, the debate is are those government jobs, high paying jobs, do they come with benefits, not come with benefits. that's the debate in texas right now. >> this is, but if the unemployment rate is ticking up, perhaps it's not good ammunition for other republicans like mitt romney, whose record was 47 when he was governor and rick perry likes to bring that up, but the fact the unemployment rate is ticking up is potentially a problem for rick perry. if the job situation is getting worse, that does not bode well for him. 8.6, 8.7, 9%.

>> thank you. let's go to michele bachmann and questions about whether she has her facts straight when it comes to her claims about the hpv vaccine. this issue is central to her most combustible attack to rick perer pererer, but will she be the wound wounded by this line of attack? brian? >> most observers thought bachmann had scored some points when she challenged rick perry in the debate, but that was short lived. now, bachmann is being challenged by two medical -- and that's adding to her political woes right now. >> hi, everybody! >> the challenges from her gop opponents are tough enough. now, michele bachmann's being challenged by two respected bioethicists to prove a highly charged claim. it was made after the cnn tea party debate. bachmann had challenged rick perry for once trying to mandate

that young girls be vaccinated against hpv. she then told "today" show about the woman she met after the debate. >> she told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection and she suffered from mental retardation there after. >> there's no evidence any such link exists. now, arthur kaplan from the university of pennsylvania and dr. steven miles from the university of minnesota, are challenging bachmann. the stakes, they give more than $10,000 to a chart of bachmann's choice. she gives the same amount to a pro vaccine group if she can't. kaplan and miles have both given money to democratic candidates, but it's the science driving in this. bachmann said this. >> i'm not attesting to the woman's comments, only that she made them to me. >> rick perry says he made a mistake in trying to mandate

those vaccines by executive order. for perry, it had been a personal issue. he befriended a woman who died of cervical cancer, but for bachmann, it only adds to a series of facts. she told -- she said the founding fathers tried to do away with slavery. she mistakically claimed president obama's trip to india would cost $200 million a day. now this. could this hurt her credibility enough to sink the campaign? >> it is going to be problematic for her. right now, she can no longer focus on her message. >> mark preston and other analysts say factual or not, bachmann's stand on the vaccines may still play well with her base. people who don't want government playing a role in their medical decisions, but say bachmann's got bigger problems right now,

mainly the fact that rick perry's managed to grab that base away from her. >> and she has some criticized her. >> ed rollins tells john king it was a mistake for her to relay this woman's story. there was no evidence. she's got to get back to the economy. ron perry tells anderson cooper that bachmann doesn't quote, digest information as well as she could. you wonder how long she can sustain. her standing in the polls is just dropping. >> she's working hard. thanks very much. we're hoping to speak with michele bachmann here next week. let's get to a politically charged issue here in the united states and around the world. we're talking about the palestinian's goal to have their own state. abbas making a renewed appeal today to the united nations before world leaders address the general assembly in new york next week.

>> translator: we are going now to the united nations to demand our legitimate fight, which is to become a full member of the united nations as a state of palestine. >> united states and israel are warning u.n. membership would complicate the middle east peace process. richard roth has more on the palestini palestinian's options and obstacles. >> the nations of the world got yet another reminder from the palestinians of their desire for a state of their own. a symbolic seat from palestine was flown in, arriving in new york at u.n. headquarters, accompanied by activists. despite having pressure before the up coming debate, achieving state hood on the world stage is not as easy as staging a photo op. this is the potential first stop for the palestinians to apply for u.n. membership. this is the u.n. security counsel, though this chamber may

pose the toughest obstacle. under the rules of the organization and u.n. charter, the palestinians must first get approval from the security counsel in order to obtain membership, however in this room are permanent members who have veto power and one of them, the united states, has vowed to deny any requests for potential membership. >> the only way of getting a lasting solution is there direct negotiation between the parties and route to that lies in jerusalem and not in new york. >> the palestinians are likely to come here at the u.n. general assembly, full of 193 countries. >> if one road is blocked, we will follow another one, but the btive is still the same and as they say, there are many roads that lead and we know that well and we will act accordingly. >> the palestinians have a seat here at the general assembly, but their status is known as

observers. the assembly may grant them upgraded estate status, not full membership, but they may get more rights which will allow them to join more u.n.-style organizations, but their status would be on par with the vatican. so, in effect, their pairs to get a full u.n. member state would not be granted. the palestinians may be able to demand action against israel at the criminal court. the palestinian chair could be a hot seat for other u.n. members. >> i'll be in new york all of next week to cover the united nations general assembly. i'll also be interviewing the former president of the united states, bill clinton, at his clinton global initiative congress. my interview with bill clinton next tuesday here in "the situation room." we'll talk about all of these issues and a lot more. meanwhile, gadhafi's loyalists are fighting on and cnn is there as forces for the

new government try to root them out. zblnchs and fresh protests and deadly violence in syria, but the country's ambassador to the united states is disputing eyewitness accounts. stand by. we have an exclusive interview. ♪ sent her back to college for her sophomore year ♪ ♪ co-signed her credit card -- "buy books, not beer!" ♪ but the second that she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for her whole dorm floor ♪ ♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪ ♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. [ tires screech ] [ crying ] [ applause ] [ laughs ] [ tires screech ]

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one activist group says at least three dozen people have been killed today. our cnn international anchor just got through an exclusive interview with the syrian ambassador to the united states. he hasn't done a lot of interviews, but you managed to talk with him. >> this is his first tv interview since the uprisings began. we had an opportunity to challenge him on what activists, many western governments had

been saying, that they are cracking down and using live ammunition, tor touring and detaining activists. here's a portion of my conversation earlier in washington. one of the things you said in a radio interview a few days ago is that not a single demonstration in syria has started from anywhere other than a mosque. now, i was in syria in june as you know, and that was not true. >> it's absolutely untrue. >> a sky news team filmed a demonstration that started nowhere near a mosque. >> it's untrue. >> why would everyone be lying about syria? >> look, let us be respectful and reason l. everybody nows, everybody in syria, outside syria, that religious groups have started those demonstrations from mosque. every friday, it is the day in

which people fear for their lives. even the clergymen are saying publicly, condemning the fact that -- not every mosque in syria. has witnessed a demonstration. >> this is the narrative we've been hearing from the government since the beginning of these uprisings that those reasonable for violence are armed gangs, terrorists. i asked him and challenged him on that point and said how did they just all of a sudden materialize, these armed gangs, before this wave of revolutions hit the arab world and he said, well, these are foreign powers that just want to destabilize the regime. >> we've invited him many times over these months to join us, but you managed to sit down with him. did he explain why he's doing a television interview? >> he didn't, but i think at this point, the perhaps government officials feel that they need to get their message out that by staying silent and

we saw it in syria in june as well. some government officials, the presidential spokesperson, did grant interviews as well and i think every few months or so, we've been seeing that government officials feel they need to get their message out and we did run a big chunk of the interview on cnn international and i think they need to be able to at least in some way, explain their version of events. but it's very difficult to maintain that these are slowly armed gangs. >> did you get a sense that he's sincere in talking about the syrian government the way he is strongly defending it or simply the ambassador of that government and has got to do what he's got to do. >> it's always hard to tell what portion that's been said by any kind of diplomat whose job it is to sebd the message of his government to the outside world. what portion is sincerity, what

portion is also spin, to be quite frank. it did appear he was sincere and having spoken to him before and you know him as well, wolf, he did appear more on edge than i'd seen him in the past. she's a jokester. he jokes around. kind of uses that humor and speaks frankly in a colorful way. today, i found him to be perhaps more stressed, i think. >> more reserved for good reason, obviously. he's under enormous, enormous pressure. we invite him back. he never used to refuse in the old days. he would always be here. thanks very much. good work. are voters having buyer's remorse when it comes to president obama? you're going to want to see what they're now saying about hillary clinton in a brand new poll. stay with us here in "the situation room." [ male announcer ] each of these photos was taken by someone on the first morning of their retirement. it's the first of more than 6,000 sunrises

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zblfshlgts more on the billions lost for one bank. lisa's monitoring that. what's the latest? >> london police have charged a ubs bank trader with fraud. the 31-year-old suspect who allegedly made unauthorized deals didn't enter a plea. the swiss bank has put its losses in connection with the case at around $2 billion. the credit rating agency, moody's, says it's considering a downgrade of ubs. this comes at a time of turmoil in the european markets. and united nations is granted more to libya's government. the general assembly voted to approve the national transitional counsel at official representative. and pakistan's prime

minister has canceled advertihi to the u.s. due to floods that have killed thousands of people. he was scheduled to address the general assembly in new york. pakistan's foreign minister will travel to the u.s. in his place. at least 5.7 million pakistanis have been affected by the flooding. and president obama has signed a bill overhauling the u.s. patents system. the bill creates a first to file system instead of the first to invent approach. also provides better funding for patent approval. currently, there's a 700,000 backlog and three-year list. >> you did an excellent report laying out all the various scenarios. some think this is going to be a disaster. >> that's right. they're afraid it's actually going to increase the number of applications that people are going to have to now start applying at the production stage for a patent, so we'll have to

see what happens with that, wolf. >>. michele bachmann is using a new buzz word to attack rick perry today. will the term harry care take off and give bachmann some traction? also coming up, hillary clinton what if scenarios on the minds of voters disgruntled with president obama. whoa! hey! [ dog barks, growls ] ♪ whoa, watch out, little man. ♪ [ male announcer ] when you take away the worry, it's easy to enjoy the ride. hey, bud. hey, dad. [ male announcer ] introducing cadillac shield. the most comprehensive suite of owner benefits offered by any luxury auto maker in the world. it's schwab at your fingertips wherever, whenever you want. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime

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let's get straight to our strategy session. joining us, democrat strategist hillary rosen, republican strategist, mary mat lynn. michele bachmann, she seems to be doubling down on the whole issue of this hpv vaccine, going after rick perry, the front-runner. she's got a new web video she posted today. let me play this little clip. audio's not so good, but you'll

make it up. >> i believe that parents are the ones who should decide whether or not our young daughters should receive injections for sexually transmitted diseases. whether it's obama care or perry care, i oppose any governor for president who mandates a family's health care choices and in turn, violents the rights of parents on these issues. >> doesn't she have someone who checks her audio? you'd think she can do better. let's talk about the substance. she's going after rick perry, branding this new frad, perry care. we've heard about obamacare, now perry care. is that smart on her part, mary? >> she's, i'm not the first to say this, is jumping the shark. she raised two legitimate issues. the role of government and a crony capitalism. both are legitimate. governor perry did rebut them adequately and well and

clarified his position in the first place. what is not legit is to just make up stuff like the vaccine is causes mental retardation. and it follows a troublesome pattern of her having done that in the past. and whatever his executive order and his position on hpv, 41 states have addressed in some form of fashion, including minnesota, have something on the bobs, so it's not some outlier issue, but she's in perilous danger of branding herself batty, i hate to say that, but she ought to pull back. >> batty, that's a pretty strong word. she says she didn't make it up. some woman came up to her after the debate and told her about her daughter who developed, became mentally retarded after the vaccine. she said she was simply reporting what some woman said to her. you don't buy that? >> doesn't matter if i buy it or

if it actually did happen. you don't -- when you're operating at that level, you don't repeat charges like that. all kinds of people have said strange things to all of us in the 30 years we've been in politics. you don't go and repeat them not once, but twice, and she hasn't rebutted it either. she ought to do what we talked about earlier, wolf. which is to just hold her ground. try to keep her reputation in tact. to try to be a force. she can still have an impact, but not if she keeps walking up to the edge like this. >> what about this new phrase, perry care? to mandate this hpv vaccine for little girls, 11, 12 years old, to prevent cancer? >> i think michele bachmann's made a lot of mistakes -- thank god there's a female republican presidential candidate standing up for teenage girls and it was

a dumb decision on governor perry's part to try and mandate this vaccine and it later came out and he did not tell the truth about this at the debate. he said, oh, i had a $5,000 contribution from merck, the pharma company. it turned out that company gave over $300,000 to him when he was chair of the republican governors at his former chiefs of staff and top aide was a lobbiest for the pharmaceutical company. you know, if michele bachmann moves in on this issue and called governor perry for the bad decisions that effect young women's lives, more power to her on this one. >> $300,000 may have been given to the republican governor's associati association, but not to him. >> he was chairman. >> but he personally in terms of all his various campaigns, we've done some reporting, he received about $30,000 personally. not to various other organizations. >> sorry, that might be true,

wolf, but when you're chair of the republican governors, t your job to raise the money. he went to his friends at the far pharma company. at america, they gave it to him and what did he do in return? he created some bad policy. >> you want to weigh in? >> that is a jump. i'll say again, 41 states. then you'd have to accuse lenlgs laters in 41 states. >> they haven't mandated this in 41 states. >> they have addressed it and any gynecologist, hillary, you've got girls. my gynecologist insisting i give this to my kids and i'm not. >> it's your choice. if you were living in texas under governor perry, you wouldn't have an issue. >> i disagree. he backed off. said he should have an an opt-in, not out.

>> of the two that i think shows a pattern about governor perry and if the only one is going to call him on it is michele bachmann, more power to her. >> we've only got a little time left. hillary clinton. we have a new bloomberg poll out. they asked, how would things in the u.s. be had hillary clinton been elected. 34% say better. 13% say worse. 37% the same. 6% not sure. is there any buyer's remorse among democrats that hillary clinton is is not the president, but barack obama is? >> 47% say would stay the same. hillary clinton has been a fantastic secretary of state. she's had the nice advantage of going around the world in the last couple of years and staying out of sort of messy domestic politics, which tends to bring any politicians' numbers down. and i think that mostly, people want to economy to be better and president obama is doing everything he can be doing to make it better.

with very little help from the republicans cht he's out there pushing a jobs bill. not getting enough traction from the republicans. i think hillary clinton would be the first person to say that if people were making the same effort president obama's making to get this country back to work, we wouldn't even have this as an issue. >> guys, as usual. thank you. critics say the palestinians are seeking a back door to state hood by trying to get an official seat at the united nations. coming up, i'll speak live with the israeli ambassador to the united states and i'll ask him, what's wrong with that. and accident or murder. stand by for some bizarre twists in the trial of a millionaire charged with killing his wife.

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excellent or murder?

that's what jurors will have to determine in a very bizarre murder trial. here's gary tuckman. >> florida millionaire bob ward is on trial for the murder of his wife. his defense, she shot herself as he struggled to stop her, but it was a much different story he told on the night of her death two years ago. three more times in the same 911 call, he admitted he shot her. later in the call, ward said the shooting was an accident, but there was never any emotion in his voice. in court, a very different picture from his attorney. >> this entire incident happened in the blink of an eye.

her death was an unexpected and tragic accident. no crime was committed by bob ward. on the night of september the 21th, 2009. >> but from the prosecution -- >> ladies and gentlemen, this case is about the fact that it was bob ward that shot her almost dead between the eyes. >> police say his story changed during his police interrogation. >> it was an accident and i will tell you more about it later. >> his demeanor also changed as time went on and his bizarre behavior has made defending him more of a challenge. the emotionless man on the phone became the jokester. here, he was doing a strip tease of sorts. >> i'll make sure that -- no, i

wouldn't do that. you want to hear -- >> what makes this video even stranger is who is visiting him. the woman talking to him, his dead wife's sister, the woman in the background, bob and diane's daughter. >> she's had hundred of phone calls and you and everybody is very, very supportive. >> the three in this video all thought it was a hoot that the plumbing wasn't working in the cell. >> a lifestyle change for you. i know you're missing a bidet. >> water bottle -- no water! >> he's yelling, there's no water. >> nobody seems to care though. >> well, i do. and i know you do. and i also want to let you know how -- i've been trying get you to wear pajamas for years now. really, tit's a lovely fall collection you've got on.

>> they say his wife was shot from more than a foot away, much farther than someone that would shoot themselves. she was about to give a deposition about her husband, but -- had high levels of antidepress sant drugs in her system. it will be up to the judge to decide which bob ward to to believe. this one -- >> diane ward was killed by a single gun shot wound as she struggled by her husband with a loaded gun. >> or this one -- >> >> the last ditch global effort to save a death row inmate before time runs out. ahead, we'll go live to one of the many rallies taking place around the world. stand by. plus, a growing scandal around that solar company once touted by president obama as a symbol of green jobs. there are new details about what happened after it received millions of dollars in u.s. taxpayer money.

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it can be one of the most contention issues next week.

the palestinians' request for an official seat ft it's raising red flags for many. abbas contends israel should not feel threatened. >> we want to delegitimize the occupation and not the state of israel. what we want to achieve is to end the occupation and delegitimize the occupation and its measures, practices, that is a nightmare that we face every day and these measures continue in the form of arrest. breaking into our cities. destroying houses, increasing settlement activities and attacks by settlers who uproot trees and torch mosques. these days, we are crossing an important historical time. our people have proved in the past and will prove again that they are capable of passing all these examinations and tests and underline the importance of the peaceful and nonviolent form of our moves and resistance.

all of our activities should be peaceful. >> let's discuss what we just heard and more. michael oren is here in "the situation room." thanks for coming in. i know you came here right from the white house. we'll talk about that in a moment, but what's wrong with president ab bbas just said? >> first of all, you have to understand that israel wants peace. and we understand that peace involves painful compromises by both sides. peace involves sitting down as we're sitting here across the table and working out the hard problems together to achieve mutual respect, recognition and true peace. you can't end run the peace process. you can't get around sitting as we're sitting now and working out those problems. that's precisely what the palestinian president tends to do. he wants to create a palestinian state ahead of the peace process where as the palestinian state is supposed to be the result. >> but you do support the

israeli government's two-state solution. >> we have to know what that state is going to look like. he says that state is going to be peaceful. a terrorist organization. it's been listed as a terrorist organization by the united states and by the european community. now, what happens into that state comes into it doesn't have peace is us and hamas is there and hamas has fired thousands of rockets at us. >> couldn't you just accept the two-state solution, palestine and israel, and leave the borders for negotiations and accept this resolution at the general assembly? >> again, we have to work this out together. the palestinian state was supposed to emerge as part of the peace process as the end result after we worked out the difficult concessions we'll both have to make around security, borders, the jerusalem issue, but to declare it unilaterally is a violation not just israel, but the united states.

committed never to leave the process and they just have. >> they will dispute that, but you just came from the white house. is there daylight between the obama administration and the israeli government on what to do in the coming days? >> i think we're closer today in our two positions than we've probably been ever time before. >> closer? that means there's still some differences. >> we believe in the principles of moving forward. the obama administration is committed to a two-state solution based on direct negotiations. we see totally eye to eye on that. >> where do you disagree? >> no disagreements right now. we agree fully -- >> on the strategy, what to do on the security counsel and the u.n.? there's no differences between the israeli government and obama administration? >> obama administration has sai intends to block a palestinian move to create a palestinian state unilaterally in the u.n., and the two of us, israel and the united states, remain committed to direct negotiations working out all of the hard problems, to reach a two-state

solution based on mutual respect and mutual recognition. >> as you know, the obama administration asked the israeli government to free settlement act test. some the u.s. officials say if you would have done that, there would have been direct israeli/palestinian negotiation since that became the palestinian condition for direct negotiations. >> we responded to that. we froze settlement activity for ten months. >> they wanted to do it more. >> but the obama administration concluded, and we think they concluded correctly, it would not have brought the palestinians to the table. >> they say it would have, the palestinians. >> the palestinians didn't. it's a fact, they didn't come back to the negotiation table. >> they say that's the condition, freeze unsettlement activity. are you saying the palestinians are lying? >> they had ten months to prove it and ten months they didn't show up at the negotiating table, that's the fact. right now we are willing to negotiate and prime minister t netten na hue is willing to meet with abbas any time, any place

in jerusalem or ramallah without preconditions. >> it is your understanding they go to the palestinian council. >> they go to the security council. >> what will happen? >> we hope they'll be blocked. the united states will help like mined nations to see this move will not contribute to peace but set peace back. >> say it's vetoed, they take it to the general assembly where it will be passed overwhelmingly, then what? >> as of today, abbas has not said he's going to the general assembly. again if they try to go toward the general assembly, whatever they pass there, it will be a blow to peace and there is no alternative, again, but to sit down and negotiate face-to-face, because we want that peace, we want to negotiate. we understand both sides have to make compromises, we're willing to do our part. >> mitt romney was in "the situation room" yesterday and i asked him what he would do if he were president dealing with this issue we're discussing. listen to what he said.

>> this vote and the course pursued by the palestinians and by others in the united nations is another testament of the president 'failure of leadership. this could have been avoided, in my view, had the president made it clear from the very outset that we stand by israel, that we lock arm and arm, instead the president tried to communicate to the palestinians and others that support their effort that, well, there may be distance between us and israel. >> rick perry, the other front-runner in the republican race, echoed that. he didn't disagree with mitt romney, and the "wall street journal" writing he said errors by the obama administration have encouraged the palestinians to take backward steps away from peace. is that true? what mitt romney and rick perry are saying basically, they're blaming president obama for this current crisis? >> let me, first, say, wolf, as the israeli ambassador, i'm not going get involved in an internal partisan debate in the united states. israel enjoys far-reaching bipartisan support in this

country based on our common values, our common institutions, our respect for law and the fact that we face the same enemies as w well we've had some differences on tactical issues how to reach the end goal for two states for two people living side by side, mutual respect and recognition. right now we're on that same page, trying to divert the palestinians from declaring their statehood unilaterally and get them back to the negotiating table to talk with us directly. >> pretty diplomatic for a good diplomat like you. thanks very much. thanks for coming in, mr. ambassador. you're going have to a tough week next week. the prime minister will be in new york as well. >> he will indeed. >> thank you very much. renowned author and journalist says president obama should be worried about china's rise right now. thomas friedman of "the new york times" explains how the u.s. can maintain its role as the world's top economic power. friedman joins us in theizati"t situation room". meineke's personal pricing on brakes.

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iphones and ipads have propelled an toll levels of wealth rivaling that of the entire u.s. government. what if other businesses and individuals around the country benefit from that success? here's cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow. >> we do everything from, you know, iphones, ipads, the i touch. >> reporter: remember him? dr. brendan, aka the iphone doc. we introduced you to him last year when he was fixing everything apple out of his tiny new york city apartment. >> here to see if china, and that is a new iphone screen there. >> reporter: but a year's been good to the doctor. >> come in. how it's going. >> reporter: his business has exploded like apple stock. your first shop? >> first shop. my office is my apartment and coffee shops and the fiat. >> reporter: now he's got four stores, eight employees and boasts 300% growth since january

thanks to customers looking for a quick fix. did you think of going to apple? >> no, i didn't. >> reporter: emily's come here six times. >> i was bending down to tie my shoe in philadelphia and my phone dropped about 12 inches on the concrete. >> reporter: the most common fixes, iphones averaging $100 and mac books averaging 200. one broken screen, two. you got hundreds of them in here. and you know what that means? big business for dr. brendan. but it's about lot more than that these days. the website's expanded for mail-in repairs and his team makes house calls in the dr. brendan mobile. >> reporter: underside of house calls $115 parking ticket. one secret? hiring employees from apple like travis. >> we're not going after apple's

business. product is so popular for very valid reasons, that's one the reasons we're here, there are so many of them out there. >> reporter: do you question the demand for apple products will fall and that would hurt your business? >> that's a great question. no. >> this is where we work with customers. >> reporter: the offers have started rolling in from franchisees and private equity firms but he's not interested. >> in the beginning, i think it's smart to just do everything by yourself as much as you can handle. and i really didn't want to get in over my head in something i didn't understand. >> reporter: you're not ready to hand this business over to anyone yet? >> not yet, no. >> there's my other shop there. >> reporter: dr. brendan's got his eye on global expansion. you're seeing strong growth but the economy's tough. are you worried? >> no. no, i'm not worry. >> reporter: why? >> i started the business in the middle of the economic meltdown. if i would have been worried, i would have been wored then, not

now. >> reporter: apple hasn't come calling. have you heard to this day from apple at all? >> no, i have not. and i hope to keep it that what. >> reporter: not once? in new york, poppy harlow, cnn money. >> you're in "the situation room." happening now, new revelations about an obama administration loan disaster. we're learning that serious questions were raised before a $500 million loan to a company that collapsed in bankruptcy. much more on the story coming up. a final global push to save the life of a condemned man in the united states. the dramatic turnaround from his trial that now has so many people around the world doubting his guilt. plus -- a satellite on a collision course with earth. more than 1,000 pounds of debris expected to scatter over hundreds of miles but no one knows where. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. breaking news, political headlines, and jeanne moos straight ahead. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

new information fanning the controversy right now over a half a billion dollar loan by the obama administration to a california solar panelmaker that went bankrupt this month. critics charged the loan was pushed through hastily, now we're learning the administration provide more help to the company even as some staffers were sounding alarms about that company. lisa sylvester is following up on a reporting from earlier in the week. what are you finding out now? >> wolf, this was a $535 million loan, talking taxpayer money, that was put up to help this company called solyndrsolyndra. the loan had to be approved. newly released e-mails show before the loan was grant pld there were major concern business staffs about the finances. but the obama administration proceeded and even when it was clear this company was in major

financial trouble, the department of energy continued to back the company up until the end. >> reporter: a growing scandal about what happened after solyndra received $535 million in taxpayer money. competition from china pushed the price of solyndra's solar panels down, causing the company to lose customers and burn through cash. january of this year, solyndra went back to the obama administration and asked to restructure the department of energy loan, to give it more time to pay it back. new details from e-mail show senior staffers at office of management and budget knew they had a major political problem on their hands. solyndra was held up as the poster child of green jobs, when president obama toured the company. but days after solyndra's plea for help, an omb staffer wrote to another, urging the government to cut its losses and walk away from the deal. quote, if solyndra defaults down the road the optics will be

worse later than they would be today. at that point additional funds have been put at risk, recoveries may be lower, and the questions will be asked as to why the administration made a bad investment, not just once, which could hopefully be explained as part of the challenge of supporting innovative technologies, but twice, which could be portrayed as bad judgment or worse. cliff stearns chairs the energy subcommittee looking into the scandal. he says the entire deal was bad from the get go and trying the last-minute save put the taxpayers in a worse position. >> they subordinated $535 million of taxpayer money to e the -- >> we seem to be having technical issues with that piece. as the company was going under the white house, the office of management and budget and the department of energy continued to follow through, continued to

try to restructure this loan to try to save this company and now there's a lot of political fall out, a number of republicans we saw wednesday, a lot of republicans and lawmakers want to know what happened, why was the loan given in the first place, why was the loan restructured in a way where taxpayers were going to be paid after investors. a lot more questions. the white house, on otter hand, jay carney says the process that was used to determine who received the government loan was backed by the department of energy loans. he says this process was merit based and that when it comes to cutting edge industries seeking this government help there's potential for high rewards but potential for high risk, and that's what they're saying in this case. it's not a reason to give up on this green technology, but i think as we move forward, we're certainly going to see more scrutiny of these types programs. >> there were memos written by others in the obama administration saying not so fast, we need more time to vet

this, be careful, we're not sure, right? >> that's right. you know, this is what's so amazing about the story, you have these e-mails and these e-mails have been released, internal communications, some marked confidential, in which you see there are first members of the office of management and budget, also members of the department of energy, these are low end staffers saying, wait a minute, why are we proceeding with sole linda, the financials are not great? why are we giving them this $535 million loan without doing due diligence. that's the question, why wasn't the due diligence done ahead of time? some say because solyndra has ties to the obama administration. you can bet this story's not going away. >> 1100 people lost their jobs when the company went bankrupt. thanks, lisa. good reporting. the controversy is already becoming fodder out there on the republican presidential campaign trail. congresswoman and candidate michele bachmann blasted the

obama administration over it. >> what did the stimulus give us last time? >> nothing! >> well -- hey, it gave -- debt, okay. it gave us solyndra. wasn't that great? we got solyndra. $535 million, as a matter of fact, i got a quote from our vice president, joe biden, and you know he's never wrong. and this is what he said. he said that the loan guarantee for solyndra was exactly what the stimulus act is all about. that's the truth. that's the truth. >> let's dig deeper with cnn contributor john avalon. how much of a potential, john, does this have to really substantively hurt the obama administration? >> it sure doesn't help, wolf.

you know the power of narrative and politics and you're seeing solyndra sin nynonymous for government waste and crony capitalism. this is a symbol going forward. the staffer at omb was right, this has gotten much worse. optics are much worse today than six months ago, before the second round. half a billion dollars in taxpayer money lost and 1100 people out of work. >> will it undermine the president's latest jobs creation initiative? >> it's going to take a lot of wind ut of the sails because it gives critics a credible argument to make, look if we're putting extra money in to stimulate economy, look at what has worked in the past. it's a shame because these loan beg guarantees are necessary to some extent. you can't say move the country to independence but this wasn't the right way to do it. but clearly more scrutiny, due

diligence, it's harder for the administration to say trust us to invest in companies to stimulate economy, particularly the green jobs sector. >> trump tweeted this, great job on solyndra, you are some extremely skilled venture capitalist. stick to the memoirs and speeches. it's got that potential to create that kind of, i guess, sarcastic, biting momentum. >> right. that's when a political story becomes a one-word narrative. there's an ouch quality to that. that said, that's the second narrative that this story deepens. the idea that the obama administration doesn't have enough ceo in positions of power that it does not have enough businessmen in the administration. trump's tweets, like all jokes, have a serious element, and that's it, there are not enough accomplished businessmen in the administration. >> you heard michele bachmann. i suspect all republican candidates are going to start using this on their -- as part of the stump speeches.

>> oh, yeah. this is going to be part of the narrative going forward for at least the next few weeks. this is going to be become exhibit a why the government shouldn't put more money into trying to stimulate an economic recovery. it's the administration to play offense, get the information out, put out the fire, make the case, if they can, while this was a failed investment, that this sort of bold experimentation is necessary to kick start the economy, particularly in an area the president believes in, investing and creating a new green tech sector to compete globally in the future. this is a major blow to the efforts and needs to be addressed, and the republicans will. >> will the president deal with this or let his aides deal with it. >> the president will be asked about it. it's better to get out ahead of a story instead of letting it snowball like this has. >> it's been an attractable problem for united states presidents for the deck raids, the israel/palestinian dispute is about to get more complicated, could impact his

re-election campaign. talking about the palestinian quest for statehood. it's coming to a head in new york in the united nations next week. let's go to jessica wellen work the story at the white house. what are they saying? what's goingen? >> reporter: wolf, administration officials have been unable to head off a palestinian effort to press for statehood at the united nations next week. now, no one knows exactly how this will play out, but what we do know is that, for this administration, much more than just foreign policy is at stake. as the president fights to keep the nation's focus on his jobs plan, a new crisis looms, he'll be thrust into a high stakes showdown over palestinian statehood when the united nations general assembly gathers in new york next week. >> the mens will not, and cannot, achieve statehood through a declaration that the united nations. it is a distraction and in fact it's counterproductive.

>> reporter: but it's going to happen. so says palestinian authority president abbas. with peace talks stalled, abbas insists he'll ask the u.n. security council to give palestinians statehood status, which the obama administration vows to veto. that could alienate arab allies the u.s. desperately needs. allies who might question the president's commitment to freedom for all people in the region, given his strong stand during the arab spring. >> i think already diminished american credibility is going to be diminished further. there's no question about that. we are neither admired, feared, nor respected in this region. >> reporter: exactly how the administration handles this diplomatic dance could also trigger a cascade of political troubles at home. democratic congressman elliott angle of new york worries the president will lose some ju, support because of his past rhetoric on israel.

>> i think there is the potential for being hurt in the next election if many jewish voters perceive that the administration is not standing four square behind israel that there is somehow a blame both parties attitude. >> >> reporter: there are signs of tension with the president's jewish supporters. usually a reliable democratic constituency. >> as for israel -- >> reporter: many were angered by think speech, suggesting controversial borders for a future palestinian state. >> based on illusions -- >> reporter: the awkward meeting in which israeli prime minister netanyahu lectured the president in the oval office. and this week, a republican won a longtime democratic and heavily jewish district in new york. that victory, seen in part as a rejection of the president's positions on israel. when it comes to jewish voters, congressman engel says, there's

still uncertainty. >> i do think that people are uneasy, that they want to know what the president feels in his guts. and many people don't get that feeling. >> reporter: wolf, a majority of jewish voters, i should point out, still do support the president, according to gallup's latest polling. 54% of jewish voter as prove of the job the president's doing, but that is down from 6 %, who had that -- who approved earlier this year. i should point out that jewish voters make up a tiny percentage of the overall electorate, but they tend to be reliable democratic voters, and given the tough election year the president is expected to face he cannot risk alienating any part of his base. >> the president flb new york addressing the general assembly next week. do we expect this issue on palestine to go down while the president is in new york, jessica? >> reporter: it will be the

backdrop of every -- behind everything he's doing. what could happen is that the palestinian authority could submit a letter to the secretary-general of the u.n. asking, applying for statehood, or they could issue a resolution to the general assembly, if they want to go to the general assembly instead. but these things take some time to play out. you might not actually see a vote on the issue while the president is there. but as i say, it will be the issue looming large over everything the president does while he is at the general assembly next week. >> i'll be reporting from new york all of next week while the president's there, other world leaders, and among my guests next tuesday, former president bill clinton. a condemned to die for a crime many are convinced he did not commit. we have details of the worldwide effort to spare a death row inmate. also, "the new york times" columnist and author tom friedman, here in the situation to discuss growing concern about the u.s. standing as a global

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ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free. call or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. in a last-ditch effort to save his life, supporters of death row inmate troy davis will be gathering for a vigil in atlanta's historic ebenezer baptist church. they say he's innocence in the 1989 murder of a police officer. here's cnn's david mattingly with the details. >> reporter: three times scheduled for execution, three types delayed. and now with all legal appeals exhausted supporters of davis make a final push for clemency. what makes you think you still have a chance to stop this execution? >> can we be sure that this man is not innocent? can we be sure that the conviction of troy davis back in 1991 is still reliable? and the thing that's so

difficult to understand is why the legal process is not asked that question. >> reporter: davis sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of savannah, georgia, police officer mark mcphail. seven of nine eyewitnesss have since recanted, changed their stories, some say they were originally pressured by police. >> i told them over and over that this is -- i didn't see this happen, they -- they wanted to put what they wanted in that statement. >> reporter: others have come forward implicating another man, one juror who convicted davis questions her decision. >> if i knew then what i know now, troy davis would not be on death row. >> reporter: with only a week to his execution, critics of the case against davis include 51 members of congress, the vatican, and former president jimmy carter. >> we believe that in this particular case there's enough evidence to the contrary to prevent this execution taking place. >> reporter: online petition supporting clemency for davis

exceeded 200,000 signatures in five days. but state and federal courts have all upheld davis' conviction. the former d.a., who prosecuted davis says the courts got it right. >> i'm just disappointed that so many people have been led to believe that nobody has paid attention to these recantations. it is, as i explained earlier, simply not the case. it's just not the case. on what ground are the recantations more believable than the testimony in court? none. none. >> live now to that rally at woodruff park in atlanta. david mattingly is joining us live for that. david, how optimistic are these supports the execution can be prevented? >> reporter: wolf, three times before troy davis had an appointment to be executed here in the state of georgia, this will be his fourth time, supporters i've talked to today say they believe this time is different because, first of all, they say their numbers are greater. look at the hundreds of people that are gathered in this park here in downtown atlanta.

this is just one demonstration planned across the country. their voices are also louder. they have high-powered names behind them this time. i spoke to one of his family members, his sister who says they spoke to troy davis today and believe this time there's something special happening with all of these people around them that they believe that the georgia state papardons and pard will be paying attention. listen. we have more power. god is still on the throne and we have more power, more support than ever because when yesterday, when troy got the news that they had delivered over 650,000 petitions he called, he was so excited, so elated. he knew he has supporters all over the world but he didn't know it was to this magnitude. >> reporter: the georgia pardons and parole board will be meeting monday morning. they will hear from davis'

attorney. this is their last-ditch effort to get his case changed. get him off of death row. that board has the power to take him from death row to move him to life in prison or life in prison without parole. he denied this to him once before, something significant here, wolf, this board has never gone back on one of its previous decisions. if they change this for this particular case, they will be making history. wolf? >> we'll see what happens monday. david, you'll be all over this story for us. thank very much. people all over the world are watching atlanta now. is america losing its position as a global superpower? i'll talk about that and much more with "the new york times" columnist and author, thomas friedman. he's here in "the situation room." a six-ton satellite is hurdling toward earth. how serious is the threat from debris in and we'll explain here in "the situation room."

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amid efforts to jump start america's ailing economy with its mounting debt kris sit and credit rating there's concern around the world about the current standing of the united states as a global superpower. joinings now "the new york times" columnist thomas friedman a brand new book out co-authored with the professor at the school of advanced international studies at john hopkins university, my alma mater. "that used to be us, how america fell behind in the world it invented and how we can come back." thanks for coming in. >> great to be here. >> congratulations on the new book.

i'm going to start off with a clip, and it will be obvious why i'm playing this clip. listen to this. >> it makes no sense for china to have better rail systems than us and singapore having better airports than us. we just learned that china now has the fastest supercomputer on earth. that used to be us. >> now we know how you got the tightle. >> exactly. >> is that plagiarism a bit? did you pick that? >> no, we quoted it right here. >> you obviously are giving him full credit. that used to be us but it's not us anymore, what happened? >> wolf, this is a forward-looking book with a back looking title and the reason is we argue we had a formula for success in the country, built on educate our people up to and beyond what the technology is so they can master it, second have the world's best infrastructure. have the best immigration policies. fourth the best rules for investing and preventing

recklessness, fifth, government-funded research. that's how we got here. that public/private partnership is how we became a rich country. what the book is about is how we lost all five. the arrow's pointing down in all five and way back to turn those arrows up again. >> how much responsibility does president obama have for getting the u.s. or preventing the u.s. from getting out of what you clearly describe as a rut right now. >> well, our argument is that the hole we're in is not from 2008. it really is 20 years, dates back to the end of the cold war, which we dealt with as a victory. it was a great victory but it unleashed 2 billion people, wolf, just like us who wanted to compete collaborate with pus u.s. we put our feet up and then unfortunate nayly it was compounded by the last decade where we tragically found ourselves chasing losers from globization, al qaeda and the taliban, rather than the winners. >> what's the single most

important thing the president can do, given the fact there's a divided contract legislatively, probably not able to achieve much. but what can he do as president unilaterally through executive orders to get the u.s. out of this hole? >> unfortunately, wolf, the hole we're in requires collective action. it's too deep. collective action, the kind that won the cold war in world war ii. the most important thing the president can do is lay out his side of a grand bargain. he can't strike that bargain alone. he needs a republican partner. his side has to include for cutting spending. for raising revenue, we don't have enough -- >> tax increases. >> tax increases. we cannot shred our safety nets. lastly, for raising -- for investing in these five pillars of our national greatness. we have to do all three at the same time. >> as far as raising taxes republicans aren't going along with raising taxes. >> republicans will tell you that's off the table, i tell you our future is off the table. we can't do this without doing

all three. we've got to cut spending, we've got to raise taxes -- i hope we can do it through tax reform, seems to be some impetus for that in the republican party -- and invest in sources of our strength. >> talk about the potential republican crop of candidates. >> sure. >> i did ade an interview with eight republican candidates. you see any of them have the vision that you and michael would like to see to help the united states move on to this next level? >> you know, i think governor romney probably comes close to it, though you never quite know because he has to spend so much time pandering to the republican base right now to win the primary. i think jon huntsman certainly would agree with 90% of this book, as well. whether they can win their primary and deliver the republican party to that agenda is a whole other question. >> what about rick perry, the front-runner, obviously? >> he doesn't feel like someone who has this sense of how we got

here in full, you know? this sense that we've got to cut spending and raise revenue and invest in the source of our greatness. i'm ready to listen. too early on. >> helped create jobs in texas. >> there are situations in texas that are peculiar to texas. first of all, but i want to hear -- perry's early in the race. one of the points we make in this book, wolf, we don't have a candidate. we have an agenda. and if rick perry signs on to this agenda or president obama or jon huntsman or romney, god bless them, we're with them. the country needs the agenda. i'm not here to pick candidates. >> i've heard some of the other interviews, you've suggested maybe the country needs a third party, some sort of nondemocrat, nonrepublican, somebody else who is going come in and pick upsome of these ideas. >> our points because we have an agenda, not a candidate, if no candidate actually pursues that agenda, we think it doesn't matter what we want, the country needs that kind of shock. we think someone will step into

that void, wolf. where we are right now i think our choices are several. we either will have a hard decade or a bad century. that is, either we realize this hole we're in is not a couple of years old, it doesn't take a tax cut here, spending there, we have been on a 20-year mardi gras and made up for hard work by injecting ourselves with credit steroids. we have to overcome that. it's going to attack a decade to get out of the hole. i think it will get quicker and quicker the smarter and harder we work at that. if we don't assume a hard decade, we're going to have a bad century. we'll look like a big japan, i fear. >> let me pick your brain on the arab spring that has unfolded over the past several months. is this working out the way you and i and most americans would like it work out. >> my view from day one, i was tahrir square when it happened in egypt, this is a long, long haul. these countries were led by a generation of tyrants, basically who prevented any civil society

institutions, any liberal politics, from basically emerging under them. so when they cracked at the top, the elevator went where? straight to the mosque. that was the only institution that was there. so it's natural you're going to see this initial islamic upsurge and it's natural you'll see this kind of chaos because there are no institutions. i can be optimistic about the arab spring as long as i have a long time line. the big question we have to request about the other countries they need a midwife, someone to help them through the process. in iraq we were the midwife, at a huge cost to our country. but at least we did get them through various elections and into a constitution. who's going to do that in egypt? who's going to do that in libya? who's going to do in syria, if it goes down that road? that's a big question i have. without a midwife, it's going to take that much long. >> there's enormous concern here in and israel about iran being on the verge of developing some sort of nuclear device. that could change the strategic

equation big time over there. >> yeah. that part of the world is just -- i never -- never been more depressed about it than i am now. >> you've covered it or a long time. >> my adult life. >> all of us remember your book "from beirut to jerusalem." >> no positive trends other than the broad up surge, which is important. people taking responsibilitier to their own lives but my bottom line in the middle east right now, the arab world, stability has left the building, okay? if you're looking for stability, it's left the building. question is what kind of instability are we going to have? is it going to have a positive slope, head towards a south africa transition, indonesia transition or head toward a pakistan situation? i don't know. >> tom friedman, speak with me earlier. the book is entitled "that used to be us" it's already a best-seller. >> a last-minute reprieve for a death row inmate. a satellite expected to

crash to earth next week. more than a half ton of debris expected to fall over hundreds miles. police officers, as you rarely see them, at least in uniform. dirty dancing cops, that's what they're being called. jeanne moos has the candid video. >> i was in new york city and my cell phone rang and it was andrew, our security guy, and he broke the news to me, that she died. in my mind amy winehouse foundation. she loved children. one of her greatest wishes was to have children of her own. we're looking to help hundreds of charities. the mission statement is very much to help children who are suffering from economic disadvantage, who are ill, who are suffering with drug abuse. her legacy will be the foundation as well as her music.

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so that women, like kristy's mom, can get personalized treatment that's as unique as she is. [ kristy ] she's definitely not like other moms. yeah, my mom is pretty weird. ♪ getting new information right now about a gunman holed up at a u.s. air force base in tucson. barbara starr's working the story for us. barbara, what are you picking up? >> reporter: wolf, at this hour, u.s. military officials tell us what they believe they are dealing with is a single gunman holed up in a building on the davis-monthan air force base in tucson, arizona. this situation began unfolding several hours ago. the base went into lockdown until they could figure out what they were dealing with. right now officials tell us, they believe it is a single gunman, no shots have been fired

new york o no one injured, several law enforcement teams, personnel, are on the site, and they tell us at this hour, the hope is whoever this individual is, they hope he surrenders with no incidents of violence. the base remains pretty much shut down until they get this situation resolved in the immediate area of where it's happening, wolf. >> you'll keep us up to speed on that. a last-minute reprieve from the supreme court, lisa sylvester's monitoring that and other top stories in the situation right now. >> the u.s. supreme court has delayed the execution of a texas death row inmate, dwayne edward bach had eaten what would had been his last meal when he learned of the stay. the court delayed the execution about questions of trial testimony that may have been racially tainted. a psychologist testified that blacks and hispanics are more hikely to commit future crimes.

he was convicted of two killings in 1995. bleak financial news for the maker of the blackberry smartphone. shares of research in moex fell sharply today, after the company announced weaker than expected second-quarter results. research in motion once dominated the high-end cell phone market with the blake barry but it's had a tough time competing with the iphone. pakistan's prime minister canceled his trip to the united states, due to floods that have killed more than 200 people. prime minister was scheduled to address the united nations general assembly in new york. pakistan's foreign minister will travel to the u.s. in his place. officials say at least 5.7 million pakistanis have been affected by the flooding. and sir paul mccartney and his fiancee plan to tie the knot in the same place where he married his late wife linda back in 1969. our sister public "people" magazine reports mccart nit and his fiancee intend to wed at the

maribol town howl. the couple hasn't announced the date but there is speculation that is going to happen next month. >> do you how old she is? >> i don't know. >> she looks pretty young. i hope they're very happy and have a wonderful marriage. i met him once. he's a legend. wish him the best happiness in the world. listen to this because it's a little cute. memorable, maybe not so memorable. talking about donald trump's dinner with republican candidate rick perry. not memorable, apparently. trump got the texas governor's name wrong in an interview the street.com. >> how is the republican field shaping up? anyone that can deliver the fiscal restraint you're looking for. >> i had dinner last night with jim perry. i was impressed with him. meeting with mitt romney next

week. >> jim perry, rick perry. >> the very next thing, i was impresses with him. not impressed to remember the guy's name. >> could happen to anyone. experts say they have no idea where the debris from a six-ton satellite will land. could it come crashing down near you? stay with us. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. and saving money with allstate doesn't stop there... kim and james are what you might call overly protective. especially behind the wheel. nothing wrong with that. in fact, allstate gives them a bonus -- twice a year -- for being safe drivers. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate.

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a six-ton weather satellite is expected to plunge to earth some time next week with hundreds of pounds of debris showering over hundreds of miles. right now experts don't have any idea where that will be. let's get more from our cnn meteorologist chad myers. i guess, chad, how worried should we all be. >> nasa says there's a 1 in 3,000 chance of a piece, one piece, hitting any one person. so not too worried. but the problem is the biggest piece, wolf, is 300 pounds on impact with the earth. not much bigger up above, but a lot of this is going to burn up. there is it the uars satellite. right now it's very close to the eastern tip of australia. see this pattern? it cops and goes a lot like the

iss pattern if you wanted to look at it as well. travels across the globe in sections and around and around and around. literally they don't have any idea where this is going to land. the uars, the upper atmosphere research satellite. it went up in 1991 to study the ozone layer. in 2005 they decommissioned it, brought it down to a lower atmosphere so they knew it would tumble in out of space and into the ground. the problem is 26 pieces of this are going to hit the ground. many will burn up. 26 pieces will not burn up all the way and the biggest one will be 300 pounds. it will fall along a 500-mile stretch from where the first one lands to the last one lands will be 500 miles. if you'd like to get a little bit scared for a moment this is all of the stuff up in the atmosphere. there are 4,000 pieces up there that they can track, 22,000 that they can't track that are so small. 1,000 of these are satellites working.

the rest is all junk. eventually all of this is going to have to fall back to earth someplace. i'm worried about the 300-pound piece. >> a movie, science fiction movie that could be worrisome. if it lands in the pacific ocean or the atlantic, that's great but there's a lot of landmass out there as well. >> that's correct. the date that they think it's going to come down september 24th. they have no idea whether that's plus one day or minus one day. they'll be able to give us a two-hour window, two hour here it comes, like the two-minute warning that the president gives us so we know when toe take him on tv. two-hour notice it's coming down. 25 minutes east or west, left or right, it could come down, could be a half hour early or late. in that one-hour stretch, wolf, this thing travels 7,000 miles. so even after they give us the two-hour warning, we're not going to have an idea for within 7,000 miles. if they give us the two-hour warning it's here, in the next

two hours certainly would be in the pacific ocean. if they give it to us here, the u.s., asia, a lot of water out there. a lot of people living on land. >> we'll watch it closely. not worry yet, but maybe next week. thanks very much. an alleged rogue trader in court as his former employer faces new fallout from multibillion dollar loss. jeanne moos and the case of the dirty dancing cops. an airline's job, is to take you from where you are... to where you need to be. and we're not just talking about points on a map. with a more intuitive delta website and mobile app... and the most wifi equipped planes. we let you be everywhere at once. innovations like these are extending our reach so you can extend yours. and now, even at 30,000 feet you can still touch the ground.

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the battle for libya raging on. lisa sylvester's monitoring that. some of the other stories in "the situation room" right now. what's happening in libya? >> hi there, wolf. well, intense urban warfare is erupting in the few remaining libyan cities still loyal to moammar gadhafi. revolutionary forces are attacking loyalists in these areas. one of gadhafi's sons is allegedly coordinating the battle for the loyalists. it's unclear, though, where gadhafi himself is. meanwhile, in niger, niger is refusing to hand over regime officials who have fled there. and president obama has signed a bill overhauling the u.s. patent system.

the bill creates a first to file system instead of the first to invent approach. it also provides better funding for patent approval. currently, there's a 700,000-patent backlog and a three-year waiting list for approval. london police have charged a ubs bank trader with fraud. the 31-year-old suspect, who allegedly made unauthorized deals, didn't enter a plea. the swiss bank has put its losses in connection with this case at around $2 billion. the credit rating agency moody's says it's considering a downgrade of ubs. all this comes at a time of turmoil in european markets. and australian researchers say they have discovered a new species of dolphin. they've proven these dolphins are genetically different from think other dolphins in the world. scientists made the discovery by looking at the dolphins' skulls and dna. they originally thought these dolphins were one of two types of bottlenose species. but apparently, it's a new species of dolphins.

>> for the dolphins, remember a few moments ago we were having some fun at donald trump's expense? we were laughing. he called rick perry jim perry. well, guess what? >> what? >> he's right. my twitter followers are correcting me. guess what rick perry's real name is. >> what is it? >> james richard perry. jim. that's his first name. donald trump is right. >> yeah, but it's still a little odd. i still think it's a little odd. everybody knows him as rick perry. >> his real name is james richard perry. jim. let's call him jim from now on just like donald trump. >> just to confuse everyone, right? >> thank you. much more coming up. jeanne moos when we come back. d the yummy cereal? yummy. that's yours. lower cholesterol. lower cholesterol. i'm yummy. lower cholesterol. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste? honey nut cheerios. want whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. it's a win win. good? [ crunching, sipping ] be happy. be healthy.

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dirty dancing cops. here's cnn's jeanne moos. >> reporter: talk about arresting images. new york city police officers surrendering to scantily clad dancing girls? laughter gave way to wide eyes and gaping mouths. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: now, wait. it gets better. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: the video was shot at last week's west indian day parade, known as new york's most raucous parade.

♪ nine people got shot at this year's parade. but the only shooting where these officers were posted was the shooting of the video, now gone viral. stop and frisky read "the new york post" headline. forget force, the village voice called it "excessive use of dance." no, actually, only a couple of officers did much dirty dancing on duty. >> i think it's reprehensible. >> they're supposed to keep the order. >> they're too busy humping girls. >> on the other hand -- >> they are human. if i was at a parade and i was having fun and i had a cop who was having fun with me, i would be happy about it. >> but they're having fun like they're at a bar. >> reporter: think of it as community outreach. >> yeah, he's having too much fun working. if i do that at work, i think i'll be fired. >> reporter: but new york's police commissioner wasn't firing anyone. >> you know, i prefer it didn't happen, but i don't want to make too much of it. >> reporter: commissioner ray kelly told w.o.r. radio that the young women approached the police officers. he noted that it's quite an

unusual parade. >> you know, you're going to get caught up in the spirit of it. >> reporter: even the commissioner's gotten caught up in the spirit of it. ♪ enough to play the bongos. but new york cops aren't the only ones to get lured into dancing to the beat while they're on their beat. look at this british policeman at the knotting hill carnival. instead of getting heat, he got a facebook fan page dedicated to the dancing policeman. ♪ and we're always seeing soldiers in iraq letting off steam. this retired police reserve sergeant says the new york officers were just being part of the neighborhood, it's community policing. >> his sergeant's going to educate him very quickly. it won't happen again. >> reporter: at least the new york cops kept their hats on. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> i'm wolf blitzer. >> i'm wolf blitzer. the news continues next on cnn.